All Finnish words consist of a root to which certain suffixes have been attached, but the addition of these latter often causes certain changes in the final vowel and consonants of the original root. In order to inflect words correctly it is necessary to know these changes.

A. Changes of Vowels.

I. The Long Vowels and Diphthongs.

3. The long vowels are always shortened when followed by i, that is to say, the vowel is written once and not twice. Thus maa, earth, which takes an i in all the cases in the plural except the nominative, forms maita, maitten, maiksi, etc., not maaita; puu, tree, puita, puiden, puiksi.

4. The diphthongs with the accent on the second vowel, uo, yÖ, ie, when followed by i, reject the first vowel, and thus form a new diphthong—tyÖ, work, becomes in the plural tÖistÄ, tÖissÄ, tÖiksi, etc.; vien, I lead, vein (vie-in), I led; luo, he creates, loisi (luo-isi), he would create.

5. Diphthongs ending in i reject this i if another i follows, uin, I swim, uin (for ui-in), I swam.

In the root kÄy, to go, y is changed into v before a vowel—e.g. kÄy-in becomes kÄvin.

II. Short Vowels.

The simple vowels o, Ö, u, y are invariable, but a, Ä, e, i are subject to certain changes in the last syllable of a root.

A. Ä.

When the vowels A and Ä at the end of a root are followed by the i characteristic of the imperfect tense, or plural, they undergo the following changes:—

6. (1) Ä is always rejected in disyllables—e.g. heitÄn, I throw, heitin, I threw.

7. (2) A at the end of disyllabic roots is rejected before i, if the vowel of the first syllable is o, u, uu, ou, uo, oi, or ui: but is changed into o if that vowel is a, e, i, aa, ii, ai, au, ei, eu, ie, or iu. Thus ottavat, they take, past ottivat (for ottaivat); nuora, a cord, nuorilla, with cords; tupa, a hut, tuvissa, in huts. But on the other hand, kala, a fish, kaloiksi; annan, I give, annoin, I gave; kannan, I carry, kannoin, I carried.[5]

Disyllabic verbs, where the final a is preceded by t, can change it into o, but generally reject it, ahtoi or ahti: kaartoi or kaarti.

8. Derivatives of verbs in ma, ja, va, always reject the a: sanova, sanovia; ottaja, ottajia; puhuva, puhuvia.

9. (3) Polysyllabic verbs always reject a and Ä in the imperfect. Odotan, I wait, odotin, I waited, etc. The rejection also takes place in polysyllabic substantives ending in -mpa, -mpÄ, and derivatives in va, vÄ, sa, sÄ, and those where h or any vowel but i precedes the final a, e.g. vanhempa, vanhemmille; sanova, sanovina; vieraha, vierahille; kapea, kapeita. But should the final a be preceded by two consonants, or the penultimate syllable contain the vowel i, a and Ä become respectively o and Ö; asia, a thing, asioissa; karitsa, a lamb, karitsoita; kynttilÄ, a candle, kynttilÖitÄ, candles. But the words isÄntÄ, emÄntÄ always reject i, isÄnnille, emÄnnille.

10. (4) In cases which come under none of these heads, e.g. such a word as peruna, potatoe, a, Ä can be either dropped or changed to o, Ö, perunia or perunoita, partitive case plural.

11. (5) a and Ä change to e before the comparative suffix -mpa in disyllabic words, and before the suffix ta, tta, of the passive. Vanha, old, comparative vanhempi; istutan, I plant, istutetaan, passive.

12. (6) The nominative sing. of superlatives (stem -impa), and of caritive adjectives (stem -toma), drops a: kovimpa becomes kovin (by rules 24, 46); and viattoma, innocent, viaton (46).

13. (7) a, Ä become i in the nominative sing. of comparatives, stem kovempa, nominative kovempi.

E.

14. (1) E is always rejected before i. Kive-illÄ becomes kivillÄ, with stones; Mere-illÄ, MerillÄ.

15. (2) Dissyllables ending in e always change that vowel to i in the nominative singular. Stems, mere, sea, tuule, wind, nominatives, meri, tuuli.

The only important exceptions to this rule are the words itse, self, and kolme, three. Nukke, a doll, is also found, and sine, blue, is used as well as sini.

The stem miehe, man, makes mies in the nominative sing.

16. (3) Polysyllabic stems ending in e reject it in the nominative sing. Stem, sisare; nominative, sisar, a sister.

17. (4) The final e of a disyllabic stem disappears in nouns before terminations commencing with t, and in verbs before terminations beginning with k or n, provided that e is preceded by any simple consonant but k, p, v, m, or by a double consonant of which the last letter is t or s (except ht). Thus from the stem une (sleep), vuore (mountain), vete (water) (nominative, vesi), come the forms unta, vuorta, vettÄ, and from the verbal stems tule (come), mene (go), such forms as tulkaa, tullut (for tulnut), menkÄÄ. Lapse, a child, forms lasta, for lapsta; veitse, a knife, veistÄ for veitstÄ.

But e remains in the verbs potea, to fall ill, tuntea, to know, and in itse, self, suksi, snowshoe, sÄÄksi, a gnat, ripsi, an eyelash, viiksi, a moustache, which form their partitives in itseÄ, suksea, etc.

18. But in disyllabic words e is not rejected if preceded by k, p, v, or m. Thus the stems joke, river, lÄpe, a hole, kive, stone, Suome, Finland, form their partitives jokea, lÄpeÄ, kiveÄ, Suomea.

19. Likewise e remains in disyllables where it is preceded by ht, or by any two consonants of which the last is not t or s: tÄhte, star, and lehte, leaf, form tÄhteÄ and lehteÄ. Onne, fortune, and hanhe, goose, onnea and hanhea.

But yksi, one, and kaksi, two (roots yhte and kahte), form yhtÄ and kahta for yhttÄ, kahtta. Lumi, snow, is also an exception and forms lunta. Also the verbal stems teke and nÄke: infinitive, tehdÄ, nÄhdÄ.

20. In polysyllabic words the e is always suppressed: root kysymykse, a question, partitive case, kysymystÄ for kysymykstÄ.

I.

21. (1) When i at the end of substantives meets the i of the plural, the first i changes into e, risti, cross, risteissÄ. This rule is however not always observed, and forms like ristissÄ are used for the plural. But in other cases, when two i’s meet, the first falls out, pres. etsivÄt, imp. etsivÄt, not etsiivÄt. In old Finnish, words like etseivÄt are found.

22. (2) When i (generally owing to the dropping of a consonant) is found between two vowels it becomes j. Kaloia becomes kaloja.

23. All these four vowels, a, Ä, e, and i, are rejected before the -i of the terminations of the superlative: vanha, old, selkeÄ, bright, suure, great, auli, liberal, make in the superlative vanhin, selkein, suurin, aulin.

B. Changes of Consonants.

24. A word cannot end with more than one consonant. If the rejection of a final vowel leaves two consonants at the end of a word, one is rejected, usually the first, e.g. Lupaukse, a promise. By rule 16, e is rejected in the nominative sing., and there remains lupauks, which becomes lupaus. But if the second consonant is not one of those allowed to end a word by rule 2, it is rejected and the first only kept. Suurimpi becomes suurimp, and as p is not a possible final letter, m is kept, and by rule 46 (below) becomes n, suurin.

The Softening of the Hard Consonants K, T, P.

General rule: Whenever one of the three hard consonants, k, t, p, is found at the beginning of a naturally short and open syllable (that is, one ending in a simple vowel) which becomes closed (that is, ends in a consonant) owing to the addition of a suffix, then the hard consonant is softened or rejected[6].

It must be observed that some syllables which are apparently open are treated in grammar as being closed, because they end with the aspiration. This aspiration, though hardly heard except in dialects, generally represents an original consonant (v. the rules respecting the formation of the Imperative, Infinitives I and II, and passive).

This curious rule of the softening of consonants pervades the whole Finnish language and is one of its distinguishing features. The addition of a final letter to a syllable necessitates a certain effort in order to sound it accurately, and in order to compensate for the difficulty thus added at the end the pronunciation of the first letter is made easier. It is indeed clear that it is easier to say kukan than kukkan, if both k’s are carefully pronounced; but an English mouth does not find it easier to say revin than repin. But it must be remembered that the Finnish language is extraordinarily susceptible in regard to consonants. Mouths which are incapable of pronouncing two consonants at the beginning of a word must have to struggle with difficulties in pronunciation which we are quite incapable of understanding. It must also be remembered that simple consonants are pronounced exceedingly lightly, so that their disappearance is easier than it would be, were they sounded as strongly as in our language.

K.

25. (1) kk becomes k. That is to say, when the final syllable of kukka, flower, becomes closed by the addition of n, one of the k’s is dropped, and we have kukan for kukkan. So kirkko, kirkossa.

26. (2) nk becomes ng. Aurinko, sun, forms the genitive auringon. Kaupunki, town, kaupungin.

27. (3) lk, rk become simply l, r, but if followed by e, lj, rj. For example, jalka, a foot, genitive jalan; mÄrkÄ, wet, genitive mÄrÄn; kulke, leave, kuljen, I leave; sÄrke, break, sÄrjen, I break.

hk generally becomes simply h, but may remain unchanged; tuhka, ash, genitive tuhan, but sometimes tuhkan; sÄhkÖ, electricity, genitive sÄhÖn. In old Finnish such forms as tuhvan are found.

28. (4) Between two vowels k generally is lost altogether when the syllable is closed; tako, forge, taon, I forge; vika, a fault, genitive vian.

If the k is preceded by a diphthong ending in i or by simple i, a j is developed when k falls out: thus aika, time, poika, boy, ikÄ, life, make ajan, pojan, ijÄn. Similarly when k falls out between two u’s or two y’s, a v is developed, at any rate in pronunciation. The orthography varies between uu and uvu, but the latter is generally adopted when there is any ambiguity, e.g. puvun, from puku, clothes, not puun, because this is liable to be confused with puun, the genitive of puu, a tree; suvun from suku, a family; but suun from sun, a month; luvun from luku, a number, but luun from luu, a bone.

29. (5) sk, tk remain unchanged, lasku, laskun, itku, itkun.

T.

30. (1) tt becomes t, opetta, teach, opetan, I teach.

31. (2) lt, rt, nt become ll, rr, nn. Pelto, field, pellon; parta, beard, parran; kanta, base, kannan.

32. (3) After a vowel or h, t becomes d. Pata, pot, padan; tahto, wish, tahdon[7].

P.

33. (1) pp becomes p. Pappi, priest, papin.

34. (2) mp becomes mm, stem kovempa, harder, kovemman.

35. (3) In other cases p becomes v. Lepo, rest, levon; repi, tear, revin; halpa, cheap, halvan.

36. N.B.—This softening of k, t, p, takes place if in a polysyllabic radical one of them is the first letter of a syllable whose vowel forms a diphthong with the i of the plural. Harakka, magpie, harakoita; aurinko, auringoita, sun; palkinto, palkinnoita, reward.

These rules for the weakening of consonants are rigorously observed throughout the language, with the one exception that the addition of the pronominal suffixes produces no change in a word. Though tapa + n becomes tavan, tapa + nsa remains tapansa.

OTHER CHANGES OF CONSONANTS.

T, meeting with the vowel i, under certain circumstances becomes s.

37. T in the last syllable of a word, when preceded by a vowel or by l, n, r, becomes s when a final e is rejected or changed into i. E.g. in the nominative of the root vete, water, the final e becomes i by rule, and t changes to s, forming vesi. Similarly when the final e of hyvyyte, goodness, is rejected t becomes s, forming the nominative hyvyys; so also jÄlte becomes jÄlsi, and varte, varsi.

38. T also becomes s before i in the plural of ordinal numbers whose stem ends in -nte. E.g. the essive singular of stem neljÄnte, fourth, is neljÄntenÄ; in the plural the corresponding case is neljÄnsinÄ, for neljÄntinÄ.

39. The plural of stems ending in -ute, -yte, forms the essive and other analogous cases from a stem ending in -ksi. Suuruus, greatness, has for the sing. the stem suuruute (e.g. essive suuruutena), but forms in the plur. suuruuksina, etc. So also from hyvyyte, goodness, comes from the sing. hyvyytenÄ, and the plur. hyvyyksinÄ.

40. T in the last syllable of a verb, preceded by a double vowel or l, n, r, changes to s before the i of the imperf., the vowels a, Ä being suppressed. Thus from pyytÄÄ, to ask, comes pyysi (for pyytÄi); from taitaa, can, taisi. But pitÄÄ, to hold, makes piti, because this vowel is simple.

Nousee, he arises, forms the imperfect nousi, but noutaa, he brings, makes nouti, to distinguish it from the other. Similarly kyntÄÄ, to plough, generally forms its imperfect kynti, to distinguish it from the same tense of kynsiÄ, to scratch.

In poetry forms like kielti, for kielsi, are found, and in the ordinary language a number of verbs which should by the above rule form the imperfect in si, either keep ti, as hoiti (hoitaa, to look after), jouti (joutaa, to have time), or have alternative forms, hÄÄti or hÄÄsi (hÄÄtÄÄ, to keep off), sÄÄti or sÄÄsi (sÄÄtÄÄ, to place), kiiti or kiisi (from kiitÄÄ, to hasten), hyyti or hyysi (hyytÄÄ, to freeze), syyti or syysi (syytÄÄ, throw out), sieti or siesi (sietÄÄ, to bear), jÄyti or jÄysi (jÄytÄÄ, to gnaw).

T always becomes s in the imperfect of contracted verbs, lupata, to promise, pres. lupaan, impf. lupasin.

The combination ts is pronounced in dialects as tt or ht; e.g. metsÄ, a forest, appears as mettÄ or mehtÄ.

41. K before t, d, n becomes h. E.g. from the root teke, whose final vowel is liable to be rejected, come tehtiin, tehdÄÄn, tehnen, and also tehkÄÄ.

42. But h before s becomes k. Thus the stems yhte, one, kahte, two, haahte, a ship, form the nominatives yksi, kaksi, haaksi, te becoming si by the rules previously given, and h changing to k.

43. In contracted words (v. page 18) h, when left as a final letter, becomes s, t, or the aspiration. Stem vieraha, nominative vieras, for vierah; stem kevÄhÄ, nominative kevÄt, for kevÄhÄ; stem venehe, nominative vene?, for venehe.

Though the above rules are given as being convenient for grammatical purposes, there is no doubt that in all these cases h is a weakening of some other letter; indeed, there is reason to think it is never original in Finnish. Vieras represents an original vierasa, and the genitive vierasan is weakened into vierahan and vieraan. Similarly in yksi, yhden, the k is more primitive.

44. N, after l, n, s, is frequently, though not always, assimilated, especially in verbs. Thus tul-nut, pur-nut, pes-nyt, become tullut, purrut, pessyt.

45. In polysyllabic verbs n becomes t before k and t. Thus root pakene makes in the imperative paetkaa (for pakenkaa, which becomes first paketkaa) and infinitive paeta. (The steps are pakeneta?, pakenta?, paketta?, paetta?, paeta.)

46. M, at the end of a word, always becomes n. Stem avaime, a key, nominative avain, for avaim. Similar is the formation of the nominatives of superlatives: kovimpi becomes kovimp by rejection of the final vowel, and then kovim (rule 24), which changes to kovin.

47. M also becomes n before terminations beginning with t or n. Thus the stem rahattoma, moneyless, shortened to rahatom, makes rahatonta and rahatonna in the partitive and essive cases.

Contraction.

When two vowels are found together from the loss of a consonant or other causes, they frequently become a long vowel or a diphthong. This phenomenon is called Contraction, and occurs frequently in Finnish. It can, like the loss of final vowels, be easily accounted for on phonetic grounds, if it be remembered that the tonic accent of a word is always on the first syllable, so that there is a natural tendency to drop or pronounce quickly syllables at the end of words.

This contraction is of two kinds:—

48. I. The first kind takes place when the vowels of the two final syllables of a word are the same, and the consonant between them (h in nouns or t in verbs) falls out. Thus, vierahan becomes viera?an (two syllables); lupatan, lupa?an; tervehen, terve?en.

This form of contraction is universally employed in certain classes of nouns and verbs, the uncontracted forms being only found in poetry and the Karelian dialect.

49. II. The second kind is when the vowels of the last and penultimate syllables of a word meet, the last vowel being a or Ä. Under these circumstances the assimilation of the second vowel to the first, and contraction of the two into one long vowel is admissible, but not obligatory, though it usually takes place if the first vowel is o, e, or Ö. Thus lankean (I fall), kokoan (I collect), become lankeen, kokoon. But the contraction of ia or ua to ii, uu is rare.

Forms like silee, ainoo for sileÄ, ainoa are found in poetry. In prose this form of contraction is confined to verbs.

The contraction of two vowels into one long vowel or diphthong also occurs in adding the case suffixes:—

(1) The a or Ä of the partitive sing. with the final vowel of roots ending in a or Ä forms a long vowel, e.g. jalka-a, leipÄ-Ä become jalka?a, leipÄ?Ä.

(2) When the e of a termination becomes i after the final vowel of a root, this i forms a diphthong with that vowel, e.g. korvaen becomes korva?in; and when the i of the plural meets with the final vowel of a root it forms a diphthong with it.

The point in all these cases is that, though no change takes place in writing, the two vowels form one syllable instead of two.

Vowels which meet from the disappearance of k are often contracted in pronunciation: te?en, nÄ?in from teken, nÄkin, are pronounced as one syllable.